


Snow and Fluff

by BlueDreams



Category: Half-Life
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Freemance, Snow, Winter, a little late for the holiday season, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to upload now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-09
Updated: 2018-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-04 07:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14587659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueDreams/pseuds/BlueDreams
Summary: Sorta AU where the Borealis problem was solved without any major dimensional changes, and so allowing the rebel heroes to relax in the cold.





	Snow and Fluff

Earth, however slowly, began to settle down after the Combine stationed there were scattered and away from populated regions. Winter had always been a time of sanctuary from war for people in the past, and perhaps this tradition continued despite the immense changes in human civilization after a mere 20 years. The chill of snow and cool air seemed comforting and inviting compared to the machinery and apathy of Combine coldness, and this sentiment was shared by many of the rebels at White Forest. Headcrab and antlion meat was preserved as food, and energy that was previously toward defenses shifted to mundane yet less fatal work.

Traditions from before the portal storms usually went dormant for the sake of survival, with the holiday spirit retaining some customs. Humans did their best to be more generous than usual despite their lack of supplies and resources, which had in-turn intrigued the vortigaunts. As tokens of friendship, the alien allies would prepare a feast of antlion extract and guts. Hey, food is food if it doesn’t kill you. 

Some of the vortigaunts’ specialty was given to Gordon Freeman, the man from another time. The smell alone made his face contort with disgust, but he took a bite anyway as a sign of appreciation. He swallowed the food and his face immediately turned green and delirious, much to the delight of rebels who saw their courageous hero get sick from some cuisine. He walked quickly outside of the facility to give the earth his own yuletide present. Thankfully, the heavy coat he was wearing was warmer than the HEV suit or he would have been in worse shape. He gasped for some air as he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“I hope you’re not the kind of the guy who returns gifts,” replied the voice. Gordon turned around to see Alyx Vance’s grin, likewise wearing a coat that was adorned with wool. She also had a roasted leg of a headcrab that she was eating while she was talking.

“No, I’m usually more creative with my presents,” Gordon said while still woozy from his reaction to the alien innards. “One time I composed a song on one those old toy keyboards to turn Jingle Bells into a techno-funk-psychedelic beat. My friend seemed to like it because his smile was really wide for a person.”

Alyx snickered out of joy. “The maestro of our time! But hey, if we ever find a ‘keyboard’ again, make me a song like that. I want to be serenaded.” She emphasized her last word with a faux haughty inflection and her chin up in an exaggerated motion.

Gordon sadly could not find any instruments in this new world, or much of anything that reminded him of his upbringing. He was saddened by a past long gone, but more immediately by him not having a real gift for Alyx. They had both been through so much and had formed a powerful bond, and he wanted to attempt something for her. As luck would have it, he thought of something that might appeal to her while still using his own pre-war skills.

He went down on his knees and began to grab the snow to pack in his gloves. Alyx watched with curiosity, with her brow raised and a hand on her chin. The snow was gradually forming into a mound, with thin pillars forming the underside, looking like a four-legged blob to Alyx’s amusement. The mound was shaped to look more like a gorilla, with Gordon hoping to give her more hints. The clincher was making the snow on the front of the body look like a scanner.

“Is that D0g?” Alyx exclaimed in glee. Gordon nodded with an almost childlike smile out of accomplishment. “I think he’d find some complaints about not being up to scale, but you can just say it’s artistic license.”

Gordon softly chuckled, and he appreciated her reaction. He wondered what else he should do while they were both having a relaxing time. While it had been a while since they went on a dangerous mission, there was still work that had to be done rebuilding society. He grasped some nearby snow to give him some stimulation to his brain. He was not seeing his hand, but it was instinctively making a ball from his unconscious movements. Alyx understood his need for sensations every so often, and looked at his hand briefly because it caught her eye. She noticed that the snow under his hand was becoming spherical, looking like a snowball. Seeing it gave her a blurry memory of seeing those old Christmas cartoons with snowball fights. That was impossible to try in the desert climate of New Mexico, and the current state of Earth shelved that memory to make room for fond memories and sights she could not forget. But this gave her an opportunity to put that faint memory into action and walked behind Gordon to hatch a scheme.

Entirely submerged in his thinking, Gordon spaced out on everything that was not rolling around the snow including Alyx’s audible crunching steps in the snow. That concentration broke once he heard Alyx yell behind him.

“Hey, Gordon! Think fast!”

He turned around, causing his face to collide with a snowball. The snow sloshed off his glasses, revealing an expression of feigned disappointment that was trying to hide a smile. Alyx erupted in boisterous laughter at his expression and held her stomach while doing so. Gordon gave a smirk and crafted another snowball during Alyx’s laughter. He whistled at her to get her attention and was hit in the stomach by the soft projectile. While harmless, it gave her the chance to perform an exaggerated scene of being wounded while holding her abdomen.

“Oh, my gut!” exclaimed Alyx theatrically. “What a cursed end to my woeful life!”

Gordon was initially taken back by how lightly Alyx took the fake dying, but he figured that joking about death is the best way to cope with it in a deadly world like this. Once he accepted this, he went along with the fake battle.

“The- the day is mine, Vance!” Gordon nervously but enthusiastically boasted. “Surrender now, or I’ll- or I’ll bombard the battlefield with more snow!”

Alyx snickered at his remark, and replied with a defiant “Try me, Freeman!”

“Then the ceasefire has ceased! It’s now regular fire, but with snow!”

Both combatants began making, hoarding, and pelting the other with snowballs for moments on end. They each stood out from their own tactics, with Alyx having faster throws and dodging from her athleticism, while Gordon lobbed his own at a longer range and moving in unpredictable ways. The war charade quickly melted away as they both ended up laughing at their game. Nearby rebels were confused about why their top commanders were pretending to fight, but they shrugged and decided to join in on the havoc. More and more were flooding in, causing snowballs to be thrown everywhere in a state of madness for Gordon and Alyx whom were in the heart of it all. They both looked at each other in mutual understanding and retreated successfully to a facility building’s proximity away from others.

After a pause in catching their breath from the adrenaline, they looked at each other with content smiles.

“Well, that was a battle I won’t forget anytime soon,” replied Alyx with a smirk. Gordon nodded in agreement. “We didn’t win it, but the war’s far from over.”

“I can’t remember the last time I did that,” Gordon said with calmness. “It’s a really nice feeling to get that old childhood joy again. Especially with all that’s happened.”

“Definitely.” She dropped her smile, and looked at Gordon eye-to-eye with a careful tone. “Hey… It’s been a rough year. For me, for you, for everyone.” Her expression became solemn, with Gordon quickly sharing himself. “But things like what happened out there… Well, they mean a lot.” She smiled warmly at him, causing his cheeks to redden and his smile to widen.

“I’m grateful to hear that.” He spoke in a soft tone as his eyes seemed to brighten up. “It’s always hard to get used to this world with how much changed. But it… It gets easier with everyone here reminding me of better times. And even though we never met before the invasion, I’m glad you’ve made my life here easier.” Alyx beamed at his words, and perhaps out of a spirit of goodwill, she gave him a quick yet tender kiss on the lips. His reaction was stunned silence mixed with a goofy, blissful smile.

“Thank you, Gordon.” She said graciously. She peered at a nearby clock and triggered her memory. “I have to meet with Dr. Magnusson about something before he yells it through the intercom.” Gordon was still in a daze and only nodded his head and waved.

He sighed happily as she left the hallway, and was too distracted to notice three rebel heads peering in and arguing over whether he was attacked by a poison headcrab’s effects. Their concerns got the better of them as they dogpiled Gordon, knocking him out of his daze and into the reality of the Lambda Rebels. Despite some irritation from them somewhat intrusively checking on every part of his body for bites, he did not stay mad and remained joyful at the events that occurred on this day.


End file.
